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Velu inaugurates Una-Ambala broadgauge line
Steps to attract high-end tourists
Disease surveillance project launched
Industrial plots’ misuse to be punished
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Interior HP may have red jungle fowl
Cong burdening common man: BJP
Governor, CM greet people on Holi
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Velu inaugurates Una-Ambala broadgauge line
Una, March 25 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Velu said the Railways was a symbol of national integration and a common man’s means of transport. There was 5 per cent annual increase in passengers. He said Rs 64 crore had been spent on the Una-Chururu rail section. He said the ever-expanding department was in modernistion phase and that besides travel, the passengers were being provided with convenience and speed. Referring to the DMU train that was flagged off today, he said it was a state of the art, high horse-power aerodynamically desinged train that was comparable to the best in the world. It had better acceleration, an inbuilt PA system for informing the passengers regarding the next station and increased passenger carrying capacity as regards passenger comfort, there were better cushioned seats, improved veritilation and lighting system, he added. He said the next 11-km Chururu-Amb section would cost Rs 49 crore, for which a sum of Rs 6 crore had been deposited with the state government for land acquisition. While Rs 1 crore had been provided in the railway Budget for extension work at this section, he added. He said the demand for extending the Delhi-Nangal train to Una would be examined. Talking about Himachal Pradesh, he said the 33-km Nangal-Una-Chururu track was the only broadgauge line in the state, while the other two narrowgauge lines, Parwanoo-Shimla and Jogindernagar-Pathankot were constructed before Independence. Terming the progress on the 84-km Nangal-Talwara rail line project as “very slow”, he said it had taken 31 years to lay 33-km track from Nangal to Chururu. The work on the remaining 51-km sections needed to be speeded up, he said. Earlier, Industry Minister Kuldip Kumar assured that the state government would provide government land free of cost to the Railways. The notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring private land had already been issued for the Chururu-Amb section, he said. Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister G.S. Bali, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mukesh Agnihotri,Lok Sabha member Suresh Chandel, Assistant General Manager of the Northern Railways V.K. Kaul, Divisional Railways Manager (Ambala) Rakesh Tandon and Una Deputy Commissioner Rajneesh Kumar were also present on the occasion. — UNI |
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Steps to attract high-end tourists
Shimla, March 25 Stating this while presiding over a meeting of Board of Directors of the State Tourism Development Corporation here yesterday, Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said already a network of helipads had been developed. The state was negotiating with private airlines to provide concessional air tickets to Shimla, Kangra, and Kulu airports, besides operating flights on a daily basis to major destinations round the year. He said this would help in bringing about qualitative improvement in the tourism culture. Expansion work on all three airports was in progress to facilitate landing of big aircraft. Mr Virbhadra Singh stressed the need to bring professionalism in services by providing regular training to staff in all hospitality services. He said tribal tourism was being given a boost by creating the necessary infrastructure in tribal areas. He said HPTDC units were coming up at Kaza and Kalpa while at Keylong a splendid unit was already in place. Mr G.S. Bali, Transport and Tourism Minister, who is also Vice-Chairman of the HPTDC, said the rationalisation process was under active consideration of the corporation so that adequate functional staff was posted at all units of the corporation. He also said the Government of India would set up world-class tourist information centres. It was decided at the meeting to pay arrears of dearness allowance to employees of the corporation for the period of July, 2003 to June, 2004, in a phased manner and engage consultants and architects for renovation of HPTDC units. |
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Disease surveillance project launched
Shimla, March 25 Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, said rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, development and ecological changes along with international travel had increased the risk of transmission of communicable diseases. “The IDSP would help in keeping vigil on common epidemics, besides gathering information on the prevalence of certain non-communicable diseases,” he said. “Early warning signals of impending outbreaks will go a long way in initiating effective response control programme and allocation of funds in accordance with the gravity of the problem,” he stated. He added that Himachal Pradesh had the best health services network as compared to many other states despite difficult terrain. “The state has a track record of 100 per cent vaccination of children with an infant mortality rate of 52 per thousand as compared to national figure of 63,” he disclosed. Even the total hospital bed capacity in the state was 9,000, which were far better than the ideal norm of one bed per thousand population. Mr Virbhdara Singh said Himachal Pradesh had emerged as a role model for providing the best health services through its network of 2,700 health institutions, which were less than 100 at the time of formation of the state in 1948. He expressed satisfaction over widening the scope and coverage of the surveillance system by associating NGOs and the private sector, which provided vital information about epidemic-prone areas. The use of advanced information technology in surveillance by providing servers and computers in all the districts would help in forecasting the outbreak of epidemics, he added. Dr D. Bachani, National Project Officer, Ms Harinder Hira, Principal Secretary (Health), and Dr R.N. Mahanta, Director, Health Services, also spoke on the occasion. |
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Industrial plots’ misuse to be punished
Parwanoo, March 25 As many as 10-12 such plots have either been rented out to
various business establishments by the lessee or an activity other than
the listed industrial ventures is being carried out from such plots.
While the ownership of these plots is vested with the Himachal Housing
and Urban Development Authority, the Industries Department allots them
to the industrialists. The member secretary of the single-window
clearance agency, Mr G.S.Chauhan, while spelling out the department’s
stand on the issue, said they would soon initiate strict action against
the violators for misusing the industrial plots. He said since space
constraint was a major concern in Parwanoo, no such activity could be
allowed. Though some plots had been vacated by such unauthorised
business establishments, the few that were left would also be made to
adhere to the norms, he added. The new policy had extended a relaxation
to allow renting out of less than 50 per cent of the built-up area of a
plot after due approval by the department. This would be applicable
after the lapse of a year of a new unit’s commencing production. The
department has further clarified that more than one unit would not be
allowed to be set up in the rented plot area. Such permission would only
be granted for a period of 10 years. The policy had however drawn flak
from the investors who had been operating their industry from a part of
the plot while earning conveniently from the remaining rented portion.
They said this allowed them to make optimum use of the plot even if
their unit did not do well commercially. Availability of land was a
major disappointment for the investors here. Though a large chunk of
land been listed as industrial plots here in the central industrial
package, an ongoing dispute for its ownership had delayed setting up of
industries. This was after investment worth lakhs had been made. The
Industries Department had, therefore, adopted a strict approach to
ensure that industrial plots were put to proper use. |
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Interior HP may have red jungle fowl
SHIMLA: The search for pure blood red jungle fowl, widely is believed to have gone extinct in the wild, may finally end in the interior hills of Himachal Pradesh. The genetic integrity of the red jungle fowl and its conservation status has been a matter of concern for the ornithologists as large-scale cross-breeding with the domestic fowls and other similar fowls over the years had almost wiped out the genetically pure bird. There are over 24 billion chickens, one for every humanbeing, but the one for which the conservationists are looking for is most likely to be found in the hill state, believes Mr John Corder , a conservation expert from the World Pheasant Association. He made this observation after visiting interior areas of the state which, he found, were largely bereft of domestic poultry. With little possibility of crossbreeding with other fowls, the “original chicken” from which all other fowls have descended might have been preserved in all its genetic purity in the interior pockets, he points out. Mr Corder has been engaged as a consultant by the state Wildlife Department for its conservation breeding programme to save the highly endangered species like the western tragopan. Under his guidance the department has sent the blood samples of about 20 red jungle fowls from Chail , Renuka and Sarhan for DNA analysis to ascertain their genetic purity. Dr Lalit Mohan, Conservator of Forests (Wild Life), who is supervising the conservation breeding programme, said the birds fulfilled the morphological, ecological and behavioural criteria laid down to assess genetic purity. The tail is carried horizontally in both sexes and the females had no comb and they have an abbreviated call ,unlike the domestic fowl. The clutch size is six to eight eggs as against the domestic fowl, which lay up to 265 eggs in a year. The preservation of the pure blood red jungle fowl is essential in view of its use in pharmaceutical research. The genetically pure fowls are required for developing various drugs for the cure of leukaemia and other diseases.
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Cong burdening common man: BJP
Shimla, March 25 In a statement issued here today, the state spokesperson of the BJP and sitting MLA, Dr Rajiv Bindal, said there were a lot of practical problems and loopholes in the implementation of the VAT. “Instead of simplifying the tax procedures the government was further complicating it, adding to the misery of the traders,” he remarked. Dr Bindal said barring a few officials, none of the businessmen was aware of the technicalities of the VAT and the government should have given adequate time to traders to understand the system. “Moreover the VAT should be imposed at only one place and not all over as now traders will have to pay not just VAT but also CST,” he said. Dr Bindal, said that the traders will have to pay VAT not on the sales but on the total turnover, which involves a lot of other things like packaging material, rent and labour charges. Criticising the move of the state government for imposing professional tax on lawyers, doctors, employees and contractors, he said that this amounted to restricting the independence of an individual and should be taken back. |
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Governor, CM greet people on Holi
Shimla, March 25 In their separate messages, they expressed their hope that the festival of colours would go a long way in strengthening the bonds of brotherhood, unity and integrity of the country.
— UNI |
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